New York Times correspondents James Risen and Raymond Bonner report. Excerpt:
WASHINGTON, July 20 — The Federal Bureau of Investigation dismissed as useless today a privately administered polygraph examination taken by Representative Gary A. Condit in connection with the disappearance of Chandra Ann Levy.
In a statement, the F.B.I. said there was “no way to verify” the results of the test, which had been administered by an expert hired by Mr. Condit’s lawyers and then turned over to the Metropolitan Police Department. The Washington police had asked the F.B.I. to analyze the results.
“It is the longstanding policy of the F.B.I. not to render official opinions of polygraph charts submitted by an outside entity because there is no way to verify the totality of the circumstances under which the examination was conducted,” the bureau said. “In addition, to render such an opinion at this point in the Chandra Levy disappearance investigation would hamper any future testing that might be conducted by the F.B.I. for the D.C. Metropolitan Police.”
The FBI’s statement that it is its longstanding policy “not to render official opinions of polygraph charts submitted by an outside entity because there is no way to verify the totality of the circumstances under which the examination was conducted” is belied by the history of the Wen Ho Lee investigation. On 23 December 1998, Wolfgang Vinskey, employed by Department of Energy contractor Wackenhut (clearly an “outside entity”), administered a polygraph “test” to Dr. Lee. He passed “with flying colors.” But when the FBI later wanted to search Wen Ho Lee’s home, Special Agent Michael W. Lowe, at para. 11 of an affidavit in support of a search warrant filed on 9 April 1999 (Lowe, 1999), swore that:
…[f]ollowing the interview on December 23, 1998, DOE polygraphers administered a polygraph examination of LEE. The examiner’s initial opinion was that LEE was not deceptive. However, subsequent quality control reviews of the results, by both DOE and by FBI Headquarters (HQ) resulted in an agreed finding that LEE was inconclusive, if not deceptive, when denying he ever committed espionage against the United States.
Clearly, the FBI does render official opinions of polygraph charts submitted by an outside entity…when it suits its purposes.